Colobus Trust

Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Uncategorized | Date: Apr 03 2009 | By: colobus

Never a dull moment at Colobus Trust as someone put it; yesterday evening as some of us sat down to eat our dinner we received an urgent call from a Diani resident about a hit and run accident, someone had run over a civet cat and it was left by the side of the road.

Our team rushed to the site while more and more worried residents informed us about the incident. We managed to dart it successfully and get it to the clinic. Dr. Allan was also there for the rescue, and after a thorough examination and initial treatment we decided further diagnosis using an x-ray machine was required.

With the help of Diani Palm Beach Hospital, we later determined she was suffering from internal injuries and a hairline fracture in her hind leg. After the x-ray, the civet was brought back to the Colobus Trust for further treatment, cage rest and recovery. Thank you Diani residents for your concern and support, let us all wish her a speedy recovery!

The Colobus Team

Tags: animal rescue, civet cat, Colobus Trust, Kenya, volunteer

4 responses so far

Category: Fundraising, Marketing, Uncategorized | Date: Apr 01 2009 | By: colobus

As many of you will be aware, Kenya is facing one of it’s worst famines in a long time. We posted about this a few days ago HERE. With virtually no emergency response systems in place through the government and local authorities, Kenyans across the country are banding together to do whatever they can.

The Coast Province has been one of the worst hit areas with statistics from the Kenya Red Cross Society showing that, “more than 200, 000 residents of Kinango, Msambweni and Kwale districts are severely hit by famine;” You can read the full story in today’s Daily Nation HERE.

The South Coast Residents Association are pulling together and making an appeal to all residents and visitors in Diani:

S.C.R.A in association with Muthaiga Mini Market in Diani have started to collect food to help the starving people of Kinango & Lunga Lunga.  We ask members, when shopping, please buy an extra bag of maize meal, sugar, rice, milk or water and then place in the appropriate box at Muthaiga Mini Market.

 S.C.R.A. has already pledged Shs. 50,000/- (approved at the A.G.M.) to buy foodstuff. We aim at filling a truck load of food so please be generous and think of all these hundreds of people, within our own District,  DYING of starvation and thirst.

The food will be delivered by members of this Association directly to the people so as to ensure that it reaches them and nobody else.

In addition, a bunch of amazing musicians from Nairobi will be performing in Diani on April 12th and have pledged 10% of the proceeds from the Fifth edition of Blankets& Wine© at Forty Thieves Beach Bar.

If you would like to make an online donation specifically for the famine relie, please use the one time donation button on the side bar and please leave a comment on this post stating that the amount you have donated is for this cause.

As if we did not have enough problems in Kenya to deal with…

Thanks.

Tags: Appeal, Blankets and Wine, Drought, Famine, Forty Thieves, Muthoni Music, Relief, SCRA

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Category: Fundraising, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Uncategorized | Date: Mar 23 2009 | By: colobus

Everybody knows just how hard life already is for the average person on this continent and despite appearances on the surface for those who come on holidays to the beach or go on safari, the reality from 3/4 of the population if not more is that life is hand to mouth. What does that mean? It means working 14 hours a day to scrape enough money to have one square meal. I hate to be sensational about it and often a lot of intellectuals and writers criticise the west and the media for always painting a dire picture of Africa - one of children with bloated stomachs and flies around their face. Whilst, I detest the stereotype,  the fact of the matter is that for more than 70% of the population in Kenya, life sucks! Kenya is a country of extremes so let’s not pretend otherwise. I am sorry to say but these are currently the faces of Kenya:

We want people to come on holiday - of course we do! It’s one of the most amazing places in the world and we depend on people coming on holiday. But we also know we have a responsibility and duty to confront the reality of the state of the nation and do what we can to help reduce the amount of depressing but true images of this country. That is why some of us like the Colobus Trust and Camp Kenya and so many others have chosen to promote Responsible Tourism. This is why so many people join our programmes: because they want more than just a holiday.

But, as if it were not bad enough that we almost went into civil war just over a year ago, Kenya is currently drowning in what has become our national tagline - “The Culture of Impunity“. Corruption is eating away at the ground beneath our feet with everything from millions of shillings worth of petrol disappearing to tonnes of absolutely necessary grain “disappearing“.

We are not too well in Kenya and yes, you are probably all too tired of hearing that from us Kenyans. And it is affecting each and every part of society and there is no hiding it anymore. For those of you who read and support the Colobus Trust, you will know that we almost came to closing down last year. No tourists = No funds. It was as simple as that. We are holding in just but with a lot of sacrifices. But the saddest thing about Kenya is that there are always people worse off than you.

And to top it up, it’s no secret that the country is facing one of the worst drought’s and famines in our recent history.  So all my fellow conservationists and animal lovers, here is the big question: how do you tell someone who is starving to death not to eat bushmeat? Put yourself in their feet for one moment…That is where the level of desperation people have succumbed to in many parts of the Coast according to the Sunday Standard (click on the image below to read full article):

When I came across this article, I immediately wrote to my colleagues in Diani who have also confirmed that the drought is beginning to affect local communities in the area and their has indeed been a noticeable increase in snares in the area. We at the Colobus Trust have a responsibility to protect our wildlife and the environment they depend on but we also know that, the animals are not the problem: the people are. And if people can’t eat, they will kill and capture anything they can to survive. Reality is biting and we need to do what we can to immediately assist those in need.

Camp Kenya, the Colobus Trust and the Diani Residents Association are all in agreement that we need to put out an appeal to raise funds to buy necessary food items and we are currently arranging the logisitics behind this. We will be turning to our supporters once again to appeal for funds for food items so please don’t be suprised if you hear a bunch of conservationists asking for food. We have been in emergency reponse mode for over a year now in one form or the other and it breaks our hearts that we are still in this mode and unfortunately it’s not just to save ourselves and the monkeys anymore…

Tags: bushmeat, Drought, Famine, Kenya

4 responses so far

Category: Blogroll, Uncategorized | Date: Mar 20 2009 | By: colobus

At last our new website is out and about …. after a long period of neglect, it has made its comeback with a new chic look and beautiful photos taken by our volunteers and staff members. You can easily access it by pressing this link http://www.colobustrust.org/  (best observed with an explorer browser) the main address remains unchanged. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters and donors for their generous contributions, every little bit helps!

The Colobus Team

Tags: colobus, Kenya, monkeys, Primate, volunteer, website

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 10 2008 | By: colobus

Two and a half weeks ago we put out an appeal. The tyres on our sole vehicle were extremely worn down and we could not afford to buy new ones.

Thankfully a saviour came in the form of Camps International who donated four heavy duty tires from their office in Diani. We are extremely gratefully for this generous donation.

We have worked together for a number of years now and have recent made some serious progress on our joint insulation project. For more information on this please visit this blog. There are also many upcoming projects that we are doing in conjunction with Camps International so watch this space!

THANK YOU CAMPS INTERNATIONAL!

Tags: , Camps International, colobus, Electrocution, Human-Primate Conflict, Insulation, kplc

One response so far

Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Uncategorized | Date: Dec 04 2008 | By: colobus

Poaching through the use of snares has been on the increase in Diani in correlation with the human population, as people flock towards us in the hope of getting employment. Sadly there are never enough jobs and Ukunda (the nearest town to Diani and the home to the majority of Diani’s workers) experiences one of the highest unemployment rates in Kenya. This led people to turn to the already fragile remaining forest for food. This has decimated the remaining wildlife, especially this year when even more people were desperate after the effects of widespread post election violence and its over-dramatisation in the media. 

Desnaring has since become a key part of our work whenever we can afford it. Desnaring teams require several members and a lot of time. With funding having been an issue this year we have struggled to employ the casual labourers necessary. We have therefore relied on donations to fund the program. We pay our casual labourers a fair wage, which works out at USD 20 per week. Thanks to a generous donation from Maria-Louisa Cacopardo (a local resident) we were able to employ four desnaring casuals this last month. We would like to take this opportunity to send out a MASSIVE thank you to her. Below are the statistics detailing their work. As you can see this is a huge task, and a massive amount of snares, something a team of a hundred desnarers would still struggle to clear.

We are putting out a plea to all that read this to donate and allow our desnaring team to carry on their great work. Remember that you are not only helping conserve Diani’s wildlife but you are also promoting a nobel line of work and giving people a chance to feed their families without damaging the environment. Below are the snares our desnarers have collected in the last 10 months.

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2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 10 2008 | By: colobus

Catherine, our Office Administrator, is now 8 months pregnant  and as of next month will be taking her maternity leave. This will be her second child and we would like to take this opertunity to congratulate her again, and wish her the best of luck! 

This leaves us with a huge hole in our workforce as Catherine is responsible for our accounts as well as so much more. We are now looking for a volunteer who can join us for some, if not all, of Catherine’s absence and help us out. 

Basic computer skills are required as the main task of Catherine’s job is to use Quickbooks to keep a tab of our accounts. This is not as hard as it sounds, and can be taught. Unfortunately the remaining staff cannot cover for her as we all have our own areas of responsibilities. Apart from the main task of keeping the books up to date, the input our volunteer can give will be dependent on how they feel they can help. Below is a brief list of what we are looking for help with:

Accounting (keeping our Quickbooks System up to date can be explained if needed as Catherine lives near by) 

Website Maintainance (as well as contributing to our blog)

Marketing (working alongside Hamisi, our Marketing & Education Liason to improve such things as our Adopt A Colobus program)

 Fundraising (as well as helping me organise some upcoming fundraising events, help with writing proposals would be greatly appreciated)

…and so much more!

We really need long term volunteers to help us in many ways. So if you are interested, or if you know anyone who would be interested, in coming out and helping us please get them to contact me at gwili@colobustrust.org  

Please tell your friends!

Gwili 

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 04 2008 | By: colobus

The Mijikenda Kaya Forests, Kenya, have recently been awarded world heritage status. There are 11 smaller forests included in the Mijikenda (which means 9 homesteads), and they all contain the sacred remains of fortified villages known as Kayas. The 11 sacred forests are spread across 200km down The South coast of Kenya. These Kayas date back to the 16^th centaury, and were abandoned in the mid 1900’s. The locals believe that their ancestors dwell in these Kayas and therefore are determined to protect them, and their surrounding forests.

The destruction of these forests has resulted in strong criticism of the local Government Officials, and the local elders are determined to protect what is left of their sacred forests. The recent decision to make the Mijikenda Kayas World Heritage Sites is a welcome relief and we hope that this will help the elders to be able to protect these wonderful and unique forests. 

The Colobus Trust has been working with the Kaya Elders around the area to protect these forests by replanting, education and trying to prevent logging in the Kayas. These sites are important to the Colobus Trust not just because they are some of the few areas of undamaged forests around Diani and along Kenya’s south coast, but also because at the moment we have not yet had the opportunity to fully research the Colobus populations in these areas. If by doing the research we found that the forests contained a high number of Colobus we would be able to help further with the protection of these beautiful and ancient sites.

There are many rare plants that have been found in the Kayas and there have been a few comprehensive plant surveys that have been conducted in the different Kayas, but at present there have been no surveys into the local primate populations in the Mijikenda Kayas. It is not feasible for the Colobus Trust to be able to conduct the projects themselves due to the time commitment that is required, which would prevent the trust from fulfilling its other responsibilities around Diani and the local areas.

The Colobus Trust had aimed, along with volunteers from Camp Kenya to survey these Kayas and record the number of Colobus and other monkeys living in the Kayas. The project is still in it’s infancy so is adapting all the time, the Camp Kenya students are enthusiastic, and willing to work hard, but the main problem is, they are not scientists. They are interested in working with the Colobus Trust and learning about surveys, but they also want to have fun with the work they are doing.

To produce a comprehensive, accurate and reliable survey those conducting it need to have relevant training and experience, along with determination and dedication. In short it needs to be conducted by scientists with appropriate field research skills and an interest in primate conservation. The type of research which would be required for a full survey of these areas is better suited to someone/a group of people interested in conducting a proper research project in this area for a research paper or as a PhD or Masters thesis.

This does not mean that the work with Camp Kenya is being stopped, but I am suggesting that it might be better if the programme were edited to take into account the abilities and limitations of the students and staff at Camp Kenya and the boundaries of what The Colobus Trust itself is able to do.

It is obvious that the work with Camp Kenya will never be considered scientifically accurate, so rather than doing unreliable transects, I think that it would be more productive to have the students continue to learn what we do, continue to learn about all types of surveys and then along with the Colobus Trust staff and the Kaya elders conduct a sweep survey within the Kayas. This way they can cover a wider area, get a general feel for what surveys are about, work with the Kaya elders within the forests, and are more likely to see Colobus and other monkeys.

This information can still be recorded, and analysed, and then when someone comes out to do a proper, scientifically designed survey they can use the information from the Camp Kenya sweep surveys to help their research. It is therefore important that we continue to work with the students at Camp Kenya, with a program more suited to the abilities of the students and that we find people that are committed and capable of doing reliable and accurate transects within the Kayas around Diani and the local area.

We would therefore be able to produce a comprehensive survey of the resident primate populations in these undeveloped and relatively unstudied forests and gain a clearer picture of the current status of the Colobus and other primates in the area. This would enable us to develop our conservation of this endangered and beautiful creature in the best possible way, and help to protect the Mijikenda Kaya Forests.

For more information on the Mijikenda Kaya Forests and other World Herritage Sites please visit : http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/453

Emma Shepheard – Walwyn

(Colobologist)

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 07 2008 | By: colobus

A wet, yet fun, two weeks since my arrival at the trust. Several days have been spent out with the casuals searching the woodlands for snares. On one outing we found more than 10 snares, the next day we found none, but that is probably better news. After several days at the cottage I hadn’t caught sight of the colobus monkeys and was wondering whether man’s encroachment in Diani had finally got the better of them, but at the end of the week we went out on the colobus check and totaled 37 individuals, divided into 5/6 troops. We even saw some making use of the colobridges - nice.

Some of the highlights of last week included the successful capture and release of a python invading a local resort. I am told that snakes (whether poisonous or not) are viewed as dangerous pests by most of the locals. They are therefore normally dispatched immediately. To get this one out of harms way was good news for our serpentine friend; if only monkey capture and release were so simple! During our outreach programme our young volunteer Claire (who comes from Seattle (with her parents!)) proved popular with the local kids. We visited Mkokoni School, on route to Mombasa. This school had a great programme dedicated to tree conservation. The children were knowledgeable of trees and their roles in ecosystems and in many ways in speaking of the ills of deforestation we were preaching to the converted, but they enjoyed learning more about how they could help the primates of Diani.
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This week (starting 23/6/08) has seen the departure of Egbert our volunteer from Holland and the family from Seattle. I have taken to the office and the colobus trust has joined forces with Kenya electricity company to insure that the addition of new power cables along Diani’s main road do not pose a threat to our local monkey inhabitants. This has meant that in the name of conservation we have paradoxically had to cut down a few trees. Finally we have had an adorable young vervet monkey in, he is has trouble walking, if his condition doesn’t improve soon, his future seems uncertain.

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Apr 03 2008 | By: admin

It was on a Sunday morning and there were only the two of us, myself and Gwili. Everything was okay at the trust when suddenly there was a series of loud noises made by Baboons jumping on our cottage roof.
We went outside to watch the monkeys and to investigate and were surprised to see that one of the larger male Baboons was holding a very small kitten, which was only about three weeks old. Although the Baboon was caring for the kitten we decided to take a closer look to see if there was any way we could help the kitten.

When the baboon realized that we were approaching, it dropped the kitten and we delivered it to our vet just to make sure that the kitten was in good condition. For the most part it was, but it was starving. I rushed to the kitchen gave him some milk and a pinch of cat food. The kitten did not hesitate to eat and drink and within no time it was full and fell a sleep.

Shortly afterwards one of the board members, Miss Luciana, decided to pay visit with two of her friends from Nairobi. Her friends were very happy to see the kitten and even requested if it were possible for them to adopt the kitten, and as the Trust already have a cat there were no objections.

Now the kitten, named Nyani (the swahili for baboon), is in a much safer and happier environment because of the caring baboon who tried to nurture the abandoned stray.

Peter Ndungu
Field Assistant

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